A middle school in East Greenwich, Rhode Island has cancelled the time honored tradition of “Honors Night”. It might hurt the feelings of some:

“members of the school community have long expressed concerns related to the exclusive nature of Honors Night,”

Isn’t that the point? I mean really. The honor roll is for students that worked hard and achieved a certain grade point average. At least that is what I always led to believe. I guess it has changed since I left school. Oh, but have no fear the students will indeed get their moment in the sun with “team based” recognition during graduation ceremonies.

“This will afford us the opportunity to celebrate the individual and collective successes of all students and their effort, progress, and excellence,”

What I would like to know is did the collective do the homework and studying for the students that were able to make the honor roll this year? If not, aren’t they get recognized for something that they didn’t actually do?

This collective nonsense is killing this country. We are not preparing students for the real world. When you out looking for a job, it isn’t a team. It is you. When you are out working that job, it is your work ethic that will make a difference in your pay scales, your job titles, and all else that goes with working in the real world. Even if you are in a “team” environment, you still have to pull your own weight or you will get kicked to the curb. Do you think if you are working in job that has this collective work environment that your “teammates” are going to be happy if they are working overtime to get the job done and you are walking out at five minutes to five? Not likely.

This school is teaching these children that their hard work doesn’t really matter. That is what we are teaching children in schools these days? No wonder our education system is failing.

A mom in Michigan made 30 chocolate cupcakes for her son Hunter’s class birthday party. She brought the cupcakes to the office so that they could bring them to the classroom, which they accepted. Within 15 minutes of dropping off her cupcakes, she received a phone call about said cupcakes to tell her that they couldn’t be served.

You see Hunter helped his mom decorate the cupcakes and used toy soldiers to do so. These soldiers were replicas of those who served in WWII. The school, in their infinite wisdom, decided that those soldiers were upsetting to the children and “insensitive”. The school has doubled down and defended this action:

“These are toys that were commonplace in the past,” she wrote. “However, some parents prohibit all guns as toys. In light of that difference, the school offered to replace the soldiers with another item and the soldiers were returned home with the student.”

“Living in a democratic society entails respect for opposing opinions,” she stated. “In the climate of recent events in schools we walk a delicate balance in teaching non-violence in our buildings and trying to ensure a safe, peaceful atmosphere.”

First, one would think that someone with the education she must have she would understand that do not live in a democracy, we live in a Constitutional Republic. Look, I understand that there are many parents who do not give their children guns to play with, I respect that. But I don’t see how exposing our children to WWII soldiers is really giving them guns to play with. These soldiers have been rightly labeled “The Greatest Generation”, have we forgotten how much they sacrificed in order to keep the American way of life? This isn’t hyperbole, fascism and totalitarism was on the march and those soldiers gave their lives so it wouldn’t reach our shores.

Hunter’s dad has had this to say:

Fountain said it was beyond outrageous to compare American soldiers to deranged mass murderers.

“In our politically correct society they can’t separate the good from the bad,” he said. ”I’m sure hammers are allowed in schools — although a lot of people are killed by hammers.”

We have become so politically correct in our society that we can’t see the forest thru the trees.

Another similar incident is making some news as well.

Do you remember the Denise’s husband Martin from the Cosby Show? His real name is Joseph C. Phillips, he is married with children and living in the Los Angeles area. His son is 15 years old. He used his own money to buy himself one of those air BB guns. He was very proud of his purchase, I am sure that he used money he earned at his dad’s restaurant was part of that pride. His son was showing a picture (yes, you read that correctly) on his phone to his friends. A teacher happened to be walking by. The teacher not only confiscated the phone, he also questioned the boy’s mental state. To make matters worse, his parents were not contacted by the school. His son finally told him about the incident days after it happened. Phillips (a Facebook friend of mine) was furious. Part of the letter he sent to the school:

It may come as a shock to Mr. DeLarme, It may even be news to you, but my son is not the only boy in Woodland Hills with a BB gun. There are quite a few boys attending your school who not only own BB guns, but own real guns as well. (Some of them play air soft with my son!) Their fathers, mothers, and brothers also own guns and shoot regularly. Owning a gun is NOT a sign of mental illness. Owning a BB gun is NOT an indication of mental instability! Certainly, showing friends a photograph of a gun is NOT a warning sign that a student is a potential danger to his classmates! I object, in the strongest of terms, to my son being treated as a potential danger and to his being threatened with law enforcement. I further object to not being notified! If Mr. DeLarme truly believed my son presented a danger, both my wife and I should have been notified immediately!

Turns out this teacher is a strong advocate of gun control. Shocker!!!

“…our country’s position on gun control and violence is what makes such situations probable.”

It is not only acceptable, but preferable, that a teacher reach out about a student that they feel is mentally unstable and who could potentially cause harm to others. But that doesn’t mean that every 15-year-old who shoots air guns is that danger. Plenty of children play with air guns or paint guns. My nephew used to love to play with paint guns when he was younger. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. He is all grown and has never shot anyone. As far as I know, he doesn’t even own a gun today. But the most reprehensible part of this story is that they were threatening this child with law enforcement without contacting his parents. This is a minor we are talking about here. A parent has the right to know that his child is being looked at as a danger to others.

We have gone way too far. Schools have a responsibility to protect their students to the best of their abilities. That doesn’t give them the right to treat children who are interested in WWII soldiers and BB Guns as criminals.

A first grader in Irving Texas wet his pants in school. It probably isn’t all that unusual of occurence for first graders, they sometimes still have accidents. But this little boy didn’t have an accident. He didn’t have “Boyd Bucks” that allowed him to use the bathroom when he needed to go. These “Boyd Bucks” are earned from the teacher as rewards for good behavior, and two are needed to use the facilities during an “unscheduled” bathroom break.

Scheduled bathroom breaks? Seriously? What is this jail? I mean a first grader sometimes will still have accidents even though they have developed bladder control. I have worked retail on and off over the years as a way to make extra money, and even in that environment, I could use the lady’s room when I needed to. I didn’t have to wait until it was scheduled.

This is a first year teacher, who I guess is trying to show children that good behavior has benefits. Well, yes it does. But A. you shouldn’t be getting a “prize” for doing what you are supposed to be doing, and B. it shouldn’t include emptying your bladder when it is full.

The poor boy made his way home that day and explained to his mother in tears why he wet pants. I am sure that was a humiliating experience for him. First he had to deal with walking around with urine in his clothing for the balance of the day, and he was, I am, sure embarrassed to explain this to his mother. Most children at that age are very eager to be “big boy”. Peeing in your pants is not seen as an activity that adults partake in.

The mother comforted her son as best as she could, then went to have a little discussion with teacher. The teacher then told her she would give her son an exception to the “Boyd Bucks” rules to use the bathroom. After this incident she was still planning on charging children to pee. The mother pushed the teacher and said that isn’t good enough and that all children should be allowed to use the bathroom when they have to go.

Granted I am sure that many kids use the bathroom as an excuse to get out of doing some work, but generally speaking first graders are very eager to learn. They are like sponges at that age, just absorbing everything around them. So I doubt this a huge problem in the first grade, but I am willing to admit I could be wrong about that. But another thing this teacher is not taking into account is the embarrassment she caused this little boy. Do you think that other 6 and 7 year olds are not going to pick on him and call him pissy pants?

I have experience with this topic, sadly. When I was young I had to have three surgeries on my urinary track, I had many problems and not being able to hold it was a real issue for me. You smell and your clothing doesn’t dry in a minute. This little boy will be picked about something that was in the teacher’s control to prevent.

The school administration has told the teacher that she can no longer use the “Boyd Bucks” system to use the bathroom. But the system will continue.

My question is what else do you need “Boyd Bucks” to do? The head spins just thinking about it.

I had something similar to this happen to me when I was in kindergarten. Instead of earned or scheduled times, if you went up to the teacher and asked and she decided not to answer, the student was supposed to go on to the bathroom. I had either forgotten this or not understood it and when she didn’t answer I sat down. As a result, I went in my pants and by the time I rode the bus home, I was soaked. My Mother went ballistic. It didn’t matter to her that the Kindergarten teacher was the Superintendent’s wife. She let that woman have it with both barrels and needless to say, from then on the teacher always answered the kids when they asked her a question.

This just astounds me. I mean to have a person who is supposed to have all the training and schooling that a teaching position requires and to have them still do something this stupid is just amazing. This is exactly why my wife and I are going to try to send our youngest to a private school once we move to Florida. Here, in central Illinois where I live and in particularly the town we live in, the public school system has not seemed to have been struck with the far left hysteria. One time, one of the 2nd grade teachers in one of the grade schools here had a big to-do about Global Warming and the poor, poor polar bears. I wrote a letter to the editor debunking everything in the news article that the teacher stated as gospel. Then I listed my sources. This led to quite a few other folks writing in, not only to the newspaper, but the school as well and this “Global Warming” exercise was removed from the curriculum.